Unlocking The Secrets of The Sun

As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaches its 13^th perihelion, or close encounter, with the Sun on Sept. 6, it is heading into a much different solar environment than ever before.

During Parker Solar Probe’s eighth orbit around the Sun, the spacecraft flew through structures in the corona called streamers. The illutartion above shows the data captured from the WISPR instrument on Parker Solar Probe. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory

As mentioned earlier, the Parker probe will fly near the Sun where no other spacecraft has ever been. The purpose of this mission to study the nature of the Sun and how it influence the very nature of space. By studying this system, it can help us unlock the mysteries of the Sun and unravel the inner workings of the universe.

Parker Solar Probe will employ a combination of in-place and remote measurements to achieve the mission's primary scientific goals: determine the structure and dynamics of the magnetic fields at the sources of solar wind; trace the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind; determine what mechanisms accelerate and transport energetic particles; and explore dusty plasma near the Sun and its influence on solar wind and energetic particle formation.

In September 2010, NASA selected five investigations for Parker Solar Probe:

Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation, which will specifically count the most abundant particles in the solar wind — electrons, protons and helium ions — and measure their properties. The investigation also is designed to catch some of the particles in a special cup (known as a Faraday cup) for direct analysis. Principal Investigator: Justin C. Kasper, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.; University of Michigan

The Wide-field Imager, a telescope that will make 3-D images of the sun's corona, or atmosphere. The experiment actually will see the solar wind and provide 3-D images of clouds and shocks as they approach and pass the spacecraft. This investigation complements instruments on the spacecraft providing direct measurements by imaging the plasma the other instruments sample. Principal Investigator: Russell Howard, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington

The Fields Experiment, which will make direct measurements of electric and magnetic fields, radio emissions, and shock waves that course through the Sun's atmospheric plasma. The experiment also serves as a giant dust detector, registering voltage signatures when specks of space dust hit the spacecraft's antenna. Principal Investigator: Stuart Bale, University of California Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.

The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun, which consists of two instruments that will take an inventory of elements in the Sun's atmosphere using a mass spectrometer to weigh and sort ions in the vicinity of the spacecraft. Principal Investigator: David McComas, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.